Too much lights information need some guidance

there is a load of info about lights across multiple forums out there and I could probably pour over it for hours in an internet research type way but by then it will be summer 2014 and light again Given STW has always come up trumps on advice what I I'm after is a DX set up for head and bars that most people agree on (yes I know how unlikely that is but you have to ask). I'm quite happy waterproofing and fettling with the soldering iron if needed.

I am a night ride virgin but the clocks changing has pushed me into action.

the light on the handlebar is lower than your eyes, so you can see shadows behind the 'texture' of the path ahead, i find these shadows really help. While you don't want to fill them in with a super-bright light that's above your eyes, it's good to have *something* that points a light where your head is looking.

it works for me and i've got rubbish eyesight.

(*my lights claim 900/180 lumens, so probably less than that actually)

Seconded the C&B Seen stuff. For £40 mine is easily comparable to my Exposure Toro which was knocking on the door of £300. Comes with both helmet and bar mount in the box, a really nice bit of kit and their customer support is meant to be very good

With the Solarstorm on my helmet the battery goes in my Camelbak. Its not perfect but it means you aren't tethered to the bike. Battery for the C&B seen light is velcroed to the top tube.

The C&B seen set up only has a single battery so you are going to be tethered to the bike - either the helmet light attached to the battery on the bike somewhere or the bar light attached to a battery in your backpack. A second battery would solve this.

The C&B Seen light is very good - the only thing I would mark it down for is only having two levels - ie high and low (plus two usless flashing modes) a medium setting would have been good. But in fairness for the average 90 minute night ride I do it can stay on high the whole time without me worrying too much about the battery

I've also got an original P7 bastid which I tried as a helmet light with the lumenator on the bars, but it didn't really add much over having the lumenator on my head.

Some people struggle with depth perception with helmet mounted lights as they tend to flatten everything but most of my riding is fairly familiar muddy/rooty singletrack so not such a problem as line choice is fairly simple and if the person in front can ride it as that speed you're just following their wheel.

I'm with Legspin, not having cables flapping and batteries clonking off the frame makes Exposure lights a winner for me. That and the "honest" lumen claims, beam pattern "quality" & lack of exploding batteries and chargers it's a price worth paying. I used to run Chinese lanterns but whining chargers and having a unit go pop as I plugged it in and scuppered a ride.

Fluxient lights from amazon.co.uk is my recommendation. Reviews on TorchyTheBatteryBoy.com. The cheap DX lights / torches are good, but the batteries let them down massively. By the time you start replacing them with decent batteries, you may as we'll have gone with something decent from the start. And that's before we even start worrying about chargers that catch fire etc. And the fettling to get a reliable set up, that doesn't leave you in the dark at the worst possible moment. Save yourself the hassle and get out in the bike instead.